ABC Family Makes Schedule Changes, 8 Simple Rules Now Weekdays; John Ritter Book Coming in September Written by Amy Yasbeck

Friday, February 05, 2010

ABC Family Makes Schedule Changes, 8 Simple Rules Now Weekdays; John Ritter Book Coming in September Written by Amy Yasbeck

ABC Family has made some last minute schedule changes to start this coming Monday (Feb. 8, 2010). The changes happening to the weekday schedule will have one show return to weekdays, one show leaving weekdays, one show leaving totally for now, and one show expanding. Wow! First up, we get another hour of Full House weekdays in the 12pm hour, replacing What I Like About You. But not to worry fans of What I Like About You, ABC Family likes you fans and will move the show to the better weekday 4pm hour replacing Grounded for Life, which is now totally off the schedule for now. Then in the 6pm hour, 8 Simple Rules returns to weekdays replacing an hour of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which will remain airing late nights on some weekends. That's not a big deal since the series already airs on TBS and Disney XD anyway. Good news for 8 Simple Rules, as that series will get to air weekdays again instead of weekend mornings. The final weekday change is an expansion. Whose Line Is It Anyway will now air five days a week in the 12 midnight hour (rather than just once a week) replacing various original series encores and other series.
There will be changes to weekends, too. Starting Saturday, Feb. 13 on Saturdays from 7am-10am will now be That '70s Show replacing two hours of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and an hour of Full House. 8 Simple Rules will remain in the 10am hour on Saturday, Feb. 13, but starting Saturday, Feb. 20, That '70s Show takes this hour as well, expanding to 7am-11am on most Saturdays depending on movie start times. Movies take over the mornings now on most Sundays, but there could be a That '70s Show sighting on Sundays in the 7am hour leading into movies. That '70s Show airs weeknights in the 7pm hour, but most of the time it is preempted due to originals, movies, or various programming, so the weekend morning airings are better. It will continue to air on TeenNick every night as well.

We mentioned a while back that Amy Yasbeck (actress and the widow of John Ritter) is working on a book on the life of her late husband, but now we have more details! With Love and Laughter, John Ritter will be published by Simon & Schuster in September, on the seventh anniversary of Ritter's death from an undiagnosed aortic dissection. I still cannot believe it will be 7 years already next September. That was a horrific day.
"It's about John's take on everything, and what it was like to live with him," says Yasbeck, who met Ritter shooting Problem Child in 1989. "People have seen him as the celebrity, but this will be about the friend, the dad and the husband."
Shortly after his death in 2003, Yasbeck started the John Ritter Foundation to promote awareness about aortic aneurysm and dissection (Johnritterfoundation.org).
Amy continues to raise awareness of aortic dissection, as she recently spoke to ABC13 (KTRK) in Houston on this issue. She is doing a great job and is working with Dr. Milewicz and her UT-Houston team to find the genes that lead to Ritter's death. In these freezers are samples from 10,000 people which have helped them isolate four of the genes that are related to aortic aneurysm. Amy is certainly making a difference in the world by doing this. She will save many lives and needs to be honored for her fine work. The name John Ritter continues to spread a positive message, just as it did when he was alive.
View the video of ABC13's story. Everyone should take a look at this.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, August 17

Abbott Elementary - "Pilot" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
In this workplace comedy, a group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal — are brought together in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life. Though these incredible educators may be outnumbered and underfunded, they love what they do — even if they don’t love the school district’s less-than-stellar attitude toward educating children.

Abbott Elementary - "Work Family" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After Jacob reveals a detail about his personal life, Janine realizes she doesn’t know the other teachers as well as she thought. Meanwhile, as Gregory’s stern teaching approach is causing his whole class to underperform, Barbara and Melissa teach him how to relax and make his lessons more fun.

Abbott Elementary - "Step Class" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Janine is thrilled when Ava asks to help her teach the after-school step class, but the two don’t see eye to eye on how to run the program. Later, when Barbara, Melissa and Jacob plan an “eat-off” to decide who makes the best pizza in Philadelphia, Gregory is forced to reveal a secret.

Abbott Elementary - "Desking" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When the students start participating in a new online trend that causes disruption to the school, the teachers band together to put an end to it. Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson provides comforting life advice to Gregory; and later, the teachers finally meet Jacob’s boyfriend, Zach, who joins in to help stop the students “desking”.

Wellington Paranormal - "Mobots" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Officer Minogue meets Officer O'Leary's mom when they use her house for a stakeout to investigate why a mass quantity of obsolete electronics goes missing.

Wellington Paranormal - "The Invisible Fiend" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Minogue and O'Leary investigate a mysterious home invasion with no visible signs of entry, managing to arrest an invisible creature and bring it back to the station for questioning.

grown-ish - "You Don't Know Me" (Freeform, 10:00PM ET/PT)
The girls enlist Junior's help to find their shady roommate, Lauryn, who has a habit of mysteriously disappearing; Junior wonders if Annika is starting to catch feelings for him; Aaron suspects that Doug isn't being honest with him.

Everything's Trash - "Rom-Coms Are Mostly Trash" (Freeform, 10:30PM ET/PT)
After Phoebe suddenly sees Michael in a new light, she attempts to set him up with Malika, who already has her eye on an old flame; Jayden worries that he and Jessie have lost their spark, so they decide to spice things up.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 15)

Wednesday, August 17

Alison Brie (GLOW/Community) - Watch Alison Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics/Woke) - Sasheer appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Nicole Byer (Grand Crew/Loosely Exactly Nicole) - Nicole guest hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Demi Lovato (Sonny with a Chance) - Demi co-hosts The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan will be on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) - Zazie appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience) - Simu chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Susan Walters (Dear John/The War Next Door) - Susan is a guest on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Blair Underwood (The New Adventures of Old Christine) - Blair will be on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Kel Mitchell (Game Shakers/Kenan & Kel) - Kel appears on a repeat of The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Sherri Shepherd (Mr. Iglesias/Trial & Error/Sherri/Less Than Perfect/Suddenly Susan) - Sherri guest hosts a repeat of The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Josh Peck (Grandfathered/Drake & Josh) and Rhea Perlman (Cheers/Pearl/Kirstie) - Josh and Rhea talk about Netflix's 13: The Musical on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Murray Bartlett (Physical/Looking) - Murry talks about White Lotus on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.